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EPCOT New Park Entrance coming to Epcot
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
James Alucobond
Well-Known Member
Indeed. Spaceship Earth is really the best thing about the whole 50th celebration to me, especially because the change is permanent, minus the Magic Is Calling sequence. As much as people disdain the loss of the full extent of CommuniCore, I still think the spine was going to be beautiful; I'm really disappointed that the Festival Center isn't happening as it makes the demolition seem wholly pointless.
Bocabear
Well-Known Member
The demolition is totally pointless... Entering the park there will be a football field's length gap between you and the lakefront esplanade... and nothing until you reach the outer rim Pavilion entrance walkways...
We all know they needed an overhaul and fresh content, but now the whole entrance plaza seems pointless and nothing but a giant event lawn (with a statue of Walt Disney).. I don't get the vision.
We all know they needed an overhaul and fresh content, but now the whole entrance plaza seems pointless and nothing but a giant event lawn (with a statue of Walt Disney).. I don't get the vision.
denyuntilcaught
Well-Known Member
SSE looks absolutely gorgeous with this new design package. In all honesty, even as a construction zone I think of the four parks, EPCOT "won" the 50th.
Bocabear
Well-Known Member
I would have to agree judging by the entrance only.
James Alucobond
Well-Known Member
I think based on everything originally presented, the idea was to go for a bit of an ecodesign fantasy wherein modern materials, plant life, technology, and nature exist in harmony. Hence the green deck atop the Festival Center, the artificial Wishing Tree, the numerous trees to break up the brutalism of CommuniCore, the asymmetrical berms to give a more organic shape to the plaza, etc. Paving over and taming nature is out; sustainable architecture is in.
Bocabear
Well-Known Member
I don't understand what the gain would be... Could they have taken the original plan, put back the waterways that were there from the beginning, and then add more landscaping to it? Yes! that would be lovely. Part of what made the park feel so majestic and monumental was the bold symmetry, Open vistas and broad spaces... It wasn't until later when they removed the waterways and then realized they went too far and had endless concrete that it was a problem.
"Sustainable Architecture" is just a buzz phrase...Knocking down half of a symmetrical massive plaza and then replacing it with astroturf doesn't suddenly make it sustainable...It has sustained for 40 years... It was already there... It does not help the environment to tear it down and then replace it at a later date with something else...It is just more waste...
and honestly isn't creating a series of twisted berms and artificial rocks and pathways also "Taming Nature"?
James Alucobond
Well-Known Member
Correct, which is why I called it "ecodesign fantasy". It wouldn't actually be any more sustainable, but it would potentially hit on more of the fashionable visual motifs associated with the trend. Vegetation cascading over the edges of terraced skyscrapers is probably just as implausible as the domed city, but one is a much more current fantasy.
Bocabear
Well-Known Member
So why could they not have added back the missing waterways and added giant linear planter boxes to the parapet of the existing buildins adding the cascading vegetation...It is possible to do that and still maintain the organization of the central plaza... Move the Fountain Of Nations out of the bottle neck where it was originally placed and put it directly in the center...Rings of landscape surrounding it, and it would have been more "Sustainable" and look more like an Eco-fantasy...without a decade of construction and waste.
The Disneyland "Montana" Tomorrowland concepts touched on these same ideas
The Disneyland "Montana" Tomorrowland concepts touched on these same ideas
James Alucobond
Well-Known Member
They could have. I wasn't saying it was the only way to achieve it; I was just responding to the comment that the center should be a lush forest with what I think the actual plan was.
EPCOTCenterLover
Well-Known Member
"Brutalism" in its purest form has no water or greenery elements.
Communicora
Premium Member
Epcot isn't brutalist.
Bocabear
Well-Known Member
I would never call EPCOT's park design "Brutalist" by any means... Especially in it's first incarnation. The soft rounded curves of the buildings, Graceful waterways and winding paths...HARDLY Brutalist... I am not sure why that word keeps getting bandied about. It was pure modernism with plenty of green space, Window walls to bring the garden views inside...
Go look at some Corbusier and then tell me how Brutalist John Hench's design was.
James Alucobond
Well-Known Member
I think it came to feel more brutalist (lowercase “b”) over time as they carved out its curves, blocked its windows, and cut down the natural environment around it. Luckily, those elements are being restored to the one building that remains.
Bocabear
Well-Known Member
I agree the changes that happened over time really compromised the design integrity of the central core...biggest offender to me was that horrific paint job... the removal of the waterways and blocking of the windows was also terrible...but clearly this was never designed as Brutalist... not even close.
Disney Analyst
Well-Known Member
I partially think they removed the one side as they just didn’t want to have to figure out how to program such large buildings again… what to do with them.
The easy route was to tear down half and move on.
The easy route was to tear down half and move on.
Bocabear
Well-Known Member
But when one whole pavilion in Future World was being used as a Festival Center (Which is now going to be used as Play!" the need to put all of that stuff somewhere... Party For The Senses uses the giant temporary, now permanent event tent in World Showcase... Probable both of these things would have fit within the framework of the demolished building, plus more.... They could have left Club Cool and the Giant Starbucks in place as well....the other side? Creations Shop, a new restaurant, and flex event space... it would have cost relatively little to just remodel and freshen these spaces up...and they could free up space in World Showcase for a real attraction...
Disney Analyst
Well-Known Member
I mean, I think the new Festival Centre was meant to fit that niche, that is until Covid resulted in cuts. By that time this building was already being torn down.
Now it's the... Festival garden? Festival... area?